GAME OF THE MONTH COLLECTION:
MS. PACMAN
(Namco/Midway, 1982)

If you're over twenty, like me, than you most likely know about a certain arcade hit that was practically all over the place when you were younger; the game was Midway's Ms. Pac Man. Weather it was a sit down table top game or a stand up cabinet no game was more popular in the early eighty, not even the original Pac Man game. If you just out of prison for murder or you're Amish or something, here's how to play the game; make Ms. Pac Man eat all the dots on the screen while avoiding the pesky 4 multi-coloured ghosts. Eat a Power Pelet and you'll now be able to eat the Ghosts too but only for a limited time. As each stage passes the game gets slightly faster and the Power Pelets don't last as long. Plus unlike Namco's Pac Man's there are 4different mazes to learn and master. Sounds simple enough, uh?


This game wasn't even made by Namco unlike Pac Man

A good game is never too easy and Ms. Pac Man is no expection. The ghosts will manage to find and trap you if you're not too careful and the 7different bonus fruits that bounce around the screen after every 70 and 170 pelet eaten will sometimes lure you to the ghosts by accident. Just like the original Pac Man, the 4 ghosts each act differently. Blinky (Red) is the hunter, Pinky (Pink, duh) is the ambusher and is quite smart, Inky (Blue) can scare easily and is not too smart, and Sue (Orange) acts randomly and is the dumbest of the four. Blinky and Pinky are the ones to watch out for because they always seem to know where Ms. Pac man is on the board.


After you finish the first two levels, you get a whole new crazy maze.

Surviving the ghosts is even harder in Ms. Pac Man than the first Pac Man because of the increased AI, plus you have strange new mazes to learn to throw you off your game. After you finish the first two Pink mazes and see the 'They Meet' intermission you have to survive three new blue mazes. These blue mazes features longer corridors and longest one paths for Pinky and Blinky to try and trap you more effectively. If manage too survive those three mazes than you'll see the 'The Chase' intermission and than you'll be taken to the new Yellow mazes. The Yellow mazes are actully easier to navigate thought than the blue mazes but now the ghosts are much faster and more intelligent. If you manage to survive four Yellow stages you'll see the very brief 'Junior' intermission and you'll go to the Dark Blue mazes.......... good luck even making it here.


The Yellow/Oranges mazes features more traps for the ghosts to corner you. Be careful!

Ms. Pac Man may not be the most original game in the world but this spin off of Pac Man not only attracted the girls to the arcades like it was suppose to but it also got the average arcade goer (like me) interested too because of its more indepth and challenging gameplay. Although Pac Man is a great game and is bound to be Game of the Month one of these days (maybe September 2005) but Ms. Pac Man was part of my childhood and I just gonna beat my last high score of over 80,000points!! Play Ms. Pac Man on the next genernation system to save your high scores now. I'M ADDICTED TO THIS GAME!! PLEASE HELP MEE!!!

MS. PAC MAN rating: 70/100
Graphics: 3
Sound: 3
Gameplay: 6


Few gamers will actually make it to these mazes.

Below is a list of most of the Ms. Pac Man games released for multiple game systems. Namco also has some Museum titles with Ms Pac Man on it.

MS. PAC MAN (Atari, 1983, Atari 2600)
:A blocky looking but still fun atari game.

MS. PAC MAN (Atari, 1983, Atari 5200)

MS. PAC MAN (Atari, 1987, Atari 7800)

MS. PAC MAN (Tengen, 1992, NES)
:Includes new mazes and a pac booster too!

MS. PAC MAN (Namco, 1993, NES)

MS. PAC MAN (Tengen, 1992, Sega Master System Europe)

MS. PAC MAN (Namco, 1991, Gameboy)
:Just doesn't feel right in black n white.

MS. PAC MAN (Atari, 1990, Lynx)
:There is a new maze and a lightning bolt power up.

MS. PAC MAN (Tengen, 1990, Sega Genesis)
:You can play as Pac Man too.

MS. PAC MAN (Namco, 1992, Sega Game Gear)

MS. PAC MAN (Midway, 1995, Super Nintendo)

MS. PAC MAN MAZE MADNESS (Namco, 2000, Playstation)
:This awesome 3Dgame features the original Ms. Pac Man too.

MS. PAC MAN MAZE MADNESS (Namco, 2000, Nintendo 64)

MS. PAC MAN MAZE MADNESS (Namco, 2000, Dreamcast)

MS. PAC MAN + SUPER PAC MAN (Namco, 2000, Gameboy Color)


OTHER GAMES OF THE MONTH

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